Monthly Archives: March 2016

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On Thursday night the Met presented its premiere of Donizetti’s last of his three “Queen operas” Roberto Devereux. In a new production by Sir David McVicar, Sondra Radvanovsky starred as Queen Elizabeth (despite not playing the title role), Matthew Polenzani was Roberto, and Mariusz Kwiecien and Elina Garanca were the Duke and Duchess of Nottingham. Maurizio Benini conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchetra and Chorus.

Sondra Radvanovsky as Queen Elizabeth in Sir David McVicar’s production of Roberto Devereux

Ms. Radvanovsky sang full throttle, her high register dominating the entire performance. Her high D at the end of the opera rang brightly and contained unbelievable substance. Not only she did she manage to impress the audience with her vocal fireworks, but also with her uncanny impression of Queen Elizabeth; Hobbling with a cane and constantly throwing herself into hysteric fits of frustration. At the very end, she faces her own death by staring into a white light shining on what appeared to be her tomb in Westminster Abbey. Wig-less and sans cane Ms. Radvanovsky dramatically collapsed to give a striking close to the end of the Donizetti Tudor Trilogy.

Ms. Garanca made the most of her relatively small role as Sarah, the Duchess of Nottingham. Her first aria “All’afflitto è dolce il pianto” was incredibly serene and legato. She grounded large ensembles powerfully and provided richeness in smaller ensembles, especially in her Act III duet with Mariusz Kwiecien. One wishes she could have brought her Jane Seymour to the Met when the first Queen opera, Anna Bolena, was performed (she cancelled the run due to illness). Mr. Kwiecien was dramatic stagewise, yet his singing did not match the dark and vengeful colors of his character. Throughout the evening he sang largely at the same volume, presenting a lack of contrast. Mr. Polenzani played a brutish Roberto, acting as a catalyst for Ms. Radvanovsky’s outstanding rages. He exemplified his middle register nicely, however, due to possibly pushing, his high register began to sound more raw as the evening went along. Maestro Benini conducted the orchestra and chorus fervently, with only a couple of minor pit and stage disconnections.

Sir David McVicar’s single dark and candlelit set provided a small and chamberesque feeling for such a grand scandal. In all three acts, chorus members or supers are on stage trying to eavesdrop on the four main characters’ conversations. McVicar was quoted as having said he wished to create a “very febrile, claustrophobic, [and] candlelit world”. One felt claustrophobic in the audience in that we, like the supers or chorus members, were eavesdropping on the Queen’s scandal along with them.

Last week I checked off the biggest bullet point on my bucket list I had accounted thus far: Singing in a performance of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, also known as the “Symphony of a Thousand”. As part of a collaboration with the Oratorio Society of New York, the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Choir, Women’s Chorus, and Symphony under the direction of Kent Tritle performed at no less than the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine – the largest neo-Gothic cathedral in the world. With 450-500 musicians total, a huge noise was made, especially with the help of Saint John’s gigantic pipe organ. The church played a role as an instrument itself, in that the reverberation of the sound produced lasted close to eight seconds. While this piece is normally performed in a concert hall with minimal reverberation, the cathedral added excitement to an already thrilling work. This year marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the American premiere of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, which was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski on March 2, 1916. I not only got to check this ultimate bucket list item off once, but twice- as a second performance was added only a few weeks before our scheduled single performance on February 25 by popular demand.

One might ask why singing in Mahler 8 was at the top of my bucket list. Why not sky-diving or backpacking through Europe? That question could be answered in many ways, but maybe it’s enough that I have and will continue to go backpacking long distances to see this symphony, let alone perform in it. As of today I have seen, including performances in which I have participated, approximately nine performances of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. That is nine more than most people on Earth will ever see or dream of seeing. How could I have seen so many performances of a work that is so rarely done? The forces are too gargantuan for it to be done regularly- even in New York. To those unfamiliar with Mahler’s Eighth, here are, roughly, the forces required: One festival-sized orchestra with multiple doublings, organ, piano, off-stage brass, eight soloists, two SATB choirs, and a children’s chorus.

My dad and I, we like to think famously, have traveled over the last eleven years to see this work done as many times as possible, specifically on the East Coast. The first time I saw it we had driven up to Tanglewood to see it with the Boston Symphony. I was only seven years old and, shaking in my seat in the Shed because of the organ, knew that I had to perform in that symphony one day. We later made multiple trips to Philadelphia, back up to Tanglewood, to the movie theater for live simulcasts, and to venues in New York.

Mahler’s symphonies also got me to enjoy symphonic repertoire and helped me along my own musical road. For a while opera was the only performing art that appealed to me; I found sitting in concert halls watching orchestras play hour-long symphonies to be torturous. That changed when I found myself enraptured for an entire hour and twenty minutes of both vocal olympics and orchestral aerobics in Mahler’s Eighth. Symphonies could have that many singers? Mahler’s Third Symphony was the first Mahler symphony I ever saw performed live, and despite its vocal presence, I give it credit, along with many works by Wagner and Strauss, for influencing me to play the French horn. I really don’t see how anyone could go see a symphony that starts with eight horns all playing forte in unison and not want to begin horn lessons immediately afterwards. Thanks to Mahler, I learned to truly appreciate live instrumental music.

From September to early February during piano/choral rehearsals for our Mahler 8, I found that I was the only one enjoying them. Getting people to learn Mahler’s notes and intervals was like pulling teeth. After all of my own experiences I had had with my dad, it made me sad to see everyone around me view Mahler in a distasteful light, or toss him away as a ridiculous composer. Many complained about the difficult vocal lines, some even claimed that we college students shouldn’t be touching Mahler- even the choral parts. Once we got into the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine a couple of weeks ago, however, people realized how big of a deal his symphony actually is. Everything came together, and everyone began to have a good time. Chorus met orchestra, both met soloists, and a chemistry between the three lit up the entire cathedral. In only a week, most people in my choir learned to love and appreciate Mahler, which, on my part, was a really heartening and reassuring thing to see. We also introduced a whole lot of people to Mahler’s Eighth who had never experienced it before: The audience and us.

Mahler said writing his Eighth Symphony was the grandest thing he had ever done. To describe it, he said “Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.” I am not one for having “out-of-body” experiences, but being in the middle of Mahler’s description motivated me to become one who does. I felt as if my soul had floated up to the Heavens he had opened and that my voice had become part of the “planets and suns revolving.” Having my dad there to witness my singing in both performances made it extra special. That is why singing in Mahler 8 was at the top of my bucket list.